Nato airstrike in Afghanistan kills 14 civilians

Helmand Province has had more than its fair share of violence. It would be fantastic to see ordinary people free to do ordinary things again.

A Nato air strike in Afghanistan has killed 14 civilian after the missiles missed their target and hit two houses.

A US marine base in Nawzad District, in south-west Afghanistan’s Helmand province, came under attack and a coalition soldier was killed.

Airstrikes were called in to hit the insurgents. Unfortunately the air strike only managed to kill two women and 12 children.

NATO is in an impossible situation when trying to respond to Taliban attacks. With insurgents operating close to civilians there are always going to be innocents killed.

There is increasing anger among the civilian population about casualties from NATO airstrikes.

The Taliban is quick to make maximum propaganda value out of each instance of misguided missiles. Of course the fact that they are responsible for considerably more civilian deaths than ISAF gets conveniently glossed over.

Last Wednesday a NATO airstrike in north-eastern Afghanistan killed 20 Afghan police and 18 civilians along with 30 Taliban insurgents in Nuristan province. Unfortunately the police and civilians were mistaken for insurgents.

The police had just taken over a position previously held by the Taliban but the message did not get through in time. The civilians died when Taliban fighters retreated into civilian houses.